Non-actuated inertial brake



Nov. 4, 1969 w. L. WILCOX ET AL NON'ACTUATED INERTIAL BRAKE Filed Aug. 14, 1967 RICHARD EiWAGNER ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,476,383 NON-ACTUATED INERTIAL BRAKE William L. Wilcox, Rochester, Minn., and Richard E.

Wagner, Mercer Island, Wash., assignors to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y.,

a co oration of New York rp Filed Aug. 14, 1967, Ser. No. 660,453

Int. Cl. B65h 29/ 68, 29/20 US. Cl. 271-53 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A document handling device such as a card processing machine including structure for arresting a document in the path of document travel using the inertial force of a non-actuated mass and selectively feeding the document to the subsequent station without releasing a brake mechanism. This is accomplished by causing the document to stop by transfer of its kinetic energy to a mass which is contacted along an inclined surface to provide an upward force component acting against the inertia of the mass and to eliminate the hazard of damage to the document. The magnitude of the mass is selected to cause the document either to stop prior to passage of the leading edge beyond the inclined surface of the mass or to permit the card to displace the mass, enter beneath the mass and finally stop as a result of frictional contact beforepassage beyond the brake. A selectively engageable dnve is thereafter actuable to drive the document beyond the brake without activation or deactivation of the brake mechanism.

Background of the invention This invention relates to document handling devices and more particularly to a non-actuated brake for such devices.

Heretofore it has been the practlce to brake a card or document being transported through a machine by providing a movable barrier in the path of the card which is removed by an actuating mechanism to perrrnt the card to progress to the next station. Since a barner presenting a vertical abutting surface in the path of travel tended to cause damage to the card, it has become the practice to have the barrier inclined in the direction of card travel to prevent damage to the leading edge. Such a mechanism requires control circuits and actuating devices coordinated with the remainder of the system. These control circuits and mechanisms are often sophisticated and complex to provide for correctly timing the release in cooperation with the balance of the machine function and are either expensive to install in original equipment or 1mpractical for application to existing equipment.

Summary The brake mechanism of this invention permits a card to be stopped and thereafter allowed to proceed without actuating a brake mechanism and with negligible frictional dra 'I he brake is comprised of a mass which is located against a card guide by a light spring member or is merely retained by confining structure and biased against the guide by gravity. The brake mass had a lead Surface inclined toward the card guide in the direction of card travel to prevent card damage and also provide a lifting force component when a card is fed under the brake mass.

A card is commonly driven along a path defined by a card guide by driven transport rolls and cooperating pressure rolls. The brake is disposed in the path of card travel to receive the card after the card has terminated driving engagement with the transport rolls. To stop the card before passage of the leading edge of the card beyond the inclined portion of the brake mass, the magnitude of the brake mass is selected to prevent displacement of the brake mass equivalent to the card thickness prior to the transfer of the kinetic energy of the card to the brake mass. This will cause the motion of the card to be arrested prior to disengagement of the card from the mass. In the alternative, the brake mass may be selected to permit the kinetic energy of the card to displace the brake mass sufficiently to pass beneath the brake mass before stopping, where after motion of the card is arrested by frictional engagement resulting from a predetermined travel of the card between the brake and card guide.

- After the card has been stopped, an actuated pressure roll may be applied to guide the card past the brake. The lead in angle allows the card to be driven between the mass and card guide without significant resistance and negligible frictional drag is caused by either the gravitational force of the mass or the light positioning Spring as the card moves along the card guide in contact with the brake mass.

Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the brake is effective to stop the card and the card is permitted to proceed thereafter without any structure or control to activate or deactivate the brake mechanism. As a consequence, the brake mechanism of this invention requires a minimum of both mechanism and space in a unit whether included in original design or utilized to provide the function in an existing machine.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved brake mechanism for arresting a document in a document handling device.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a non-actuated inertial brake for a document handling device which does not require associated actuating or deactuating mechanism and causes minimal frictional drag.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation of a card handling system utilizing the brake of this invention.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view partly broken away showing one form of the non-actuated brake of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an isometric view partly broken away showing a first alternative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation partly broken away and partly in section of a second alternative embodiment of the non-actuated inertial brake of this invention.

Detailed description Referring to FIG. 1, a card handling machine is schematically shown incorporating the non-actuated inertial brake of this invention. Cards are fed from :a card stack 10 in hopper 11 along the upper surface of card bed 12 to feed rolls 13 and 14. The feed rolls 13 and 14 accelerate the card to the transport speed of the machine. In the illustrated example, it is desired, prior to entering the work station (shown herein as a punch 17), to have the card 18 stopped and thereafter proceed to the work station upon command. The arresting of the card is accomplished 'by the non-actuated inertial brake 20.

When the card is to proceed to the work station, the pressure roll 22 is lowered to compress the card 18 against the drive roll 23 by a tensile force on connecting rod 25 which pivots the bell crank 26 against the biasing force of spring 27. The card is then driven to the work sta- 3 tion where it is controlled by the incrementing rolls 29 and thereafter carried by the feed rolls 31 to a stacker 33.

The non-actuated inertial brake includes a mass 35 which is positioned by a light leaf spring 36 and is normally in contact with the upper surface of the card guiding bed 12. The spring 36 serves solely to yieldably position and retain the brake mass 35 and is not employed to utilize any inherent biasing characteristics. The drive rolls 14 are located at a position greater than the length of the card from the point of initial contact between card 18 and brake mass 35 to assure that the driving relation with the card is terminated and the card is in free flight prior to contact with brake mass 35. The leading surface 38 of brake mass 35 is inclined toward the card bed 12 in the direction of card travel to prevent damage to the leading edge of the card 18 and to apply an upward force component to the brake mass as the card is received against the leading surface.

When the card 18 in free flight strikes brake mass 35, kinetic energy is transferred from the moving card to the brake mass to overcome the inertia of the mass and cause displacement thereof away from the confronting guide bed upper surface. Since the kinetic energy is transferred during an increment of time rather than instantaneously, if it is desired to stop the card prior to passage between card bed 12 and the brake mass surface that normally contacts the bed, it is necessary that the magnitude of the mass be selected to affect the transfer of the kinetic energy of the card "before the mass has been displaced .007 inch (the card thickness). To minimize the frictional drag of cards passing the brake, the magnitude of the brake mass is selected to be only slightly in excess of that required to arrest the maximum mass that must be stored by the brake. In card handling devices this would be an unpunched card of the maximum size handled. If it is desired to arrest the card in a position between the brake mass and the guide bed, a lesser mass is utilized permitting displacement greater than the card thickness prior to terminating motion of the card whereupon the card passes under the brake mass and is finally stopped by frictional drag. When it is desired to have the card proceed, the drive roll 23 when actuated by depression of pressure roll 22 causes the card to displace the mass and proceed without significant frictional drag.

One embodiment of the non-actuated inertial brake is shown in FIG. 2 wherein a brake mass 40 is confined in a rectangular opening 41 in an upper card guide 42 and is biased solely by gravity against the upper surface 43 of a lower card guide 44. The brake mass 40 is formed as a cylinder 46 having trunnions 47 received in slotted recesses 48 in the upper guide 42. Au upstop 50 formed of a substantially rigid metal strap secured to upper guide 42 by a bolt 51 acts as a damping device to limit the maximum upward travel of the brake mass 40. When used in a device handling cards of .007 inch thickness, the contacting lower surface of upstop 50 is disposed normally between .020 and .125 inch above the brake mass 40 when the latter is at rest against the lower card guide surface 43. A card 52 is shown, which in operation moves in the direction of arrow A to engage the lower arcuate peripheral surface of the 'brake mass 40 which is inclined toward the lower card guide surface 43 in the direction of card travel.

FIG. 3 shows an alternative embodiment wherein a brake mass 55 is retained by a pair of light leaf springs 56 secured to upper guide 57 with a lower surface contacting the lower guide member guide surface 58. A cantilevered upstop 60, secured to the upper guide, overlies brake mass 55 when it rests and limits upward travel of the brake mass when a card 61 is received against the inclined surface of the brake mass. Use of this embodiment, wherein the brake mass is supported from a location downstream of the position at which the card is stopped by the brake mass, permits free access from above to a card stopped by the brake mass.

The embodiment of FIG. 4 is similar to that of FIG. 2, but is inverted requiring that a spring 62 be used to retain the cylindrical brake mass 63 in contact with the upper guide 65. A card 66 travelling in the direction of arrow C displaces the brake mass 63 downward with motion of the mass confined by trunnions 68 disposed in slotted openings 69 and the maximum downward travel limited by the stop 70 which damps the motion.

' What is claimed is:

1. In a document handling device having drive means for transporting a document by frictionally feeding such document by engagement with a document surface generally parallel to the direction of feeding, a brake mechanism for arresting movement of a document while in free flight out of engagement with said transport means comprising:

document guide means and a brake mass confronting and urged toward said guide means,

said brake mass projecting into the path of document travel and presenting a surface inclined toward said guide means in the direction of document travel,

said brake mass having a magnitude which permits displacement thereof to admit said document to a position intermediate said mass and guide means and stop said document prior to passage beyond a position of confinement between said mass and guide means.

' 2. In a document handling device having drive means for transporting a document by frictionally feeding such document by engagement with a document surface generally parallel to the direction of feeding, a brake mechanism for arresting movement of a document while in free flight out of engagement with said transport means comprising:

document guide means and a brake mass confronting and urged toward said guide means,

said brake mass projecting into the path of document travel and presenting a surface inclined toward said guide means in the direction of document travel,

said brake mass being of a magnitude which arrests a document travelling at the transport speed of said document between the normally contacting surfaces of said brake and said guide means.

3. In a document handling device having drive means for transporting a document by frictionally feeding such document by engagement with a document surface generally parallel to the direction of feeding, a brake mechanism for arresting movement of a document while in free flight out of engagement with said transport means comprising:

document guide means and a brake mass confronting and urged toward said guide means, said brake mass projecting into the path of document travel and presenting a surface inclined toward said guide means in the direction of document travel,

said brake mass being of such magnitude as to prevent displacement thereof equal to or exceeding the thickness of a document to be stopped prior to transfer of the kinetic energy of such document to said brake mass, whereby said document will stop before the passage of any portion thereof between said guide means and the surface of said brake mass normally engaging said guide means.

4. In a document handling device having first drive means for transporting a document by frictional engagement with the document surface generally parallel to the direction of feeding, a brake mechanism for arresting movement of a document which is out of engagement with said first drive means comprising:

document guide means;

a non-actuated inertial brake presenting a card engaging surface confronting said guide means within the document path with a portion of said surface inclined toward said guide means in the dire'ction of document travel,

said document engaging surface being urged toward said guide means by gravitational action on a mass; and

second drive means selectively movable into driving engagement with a document arrested by said inertial brake.

5. The document handling device of claim 4 further comprising a work station; and means including said document guide means defining a confined path of document travel through said work station, said brake being disposed in said path of document travel to stop a document transported along said path prior to entering said work station.

6. The document handling device of claim 4, further comprising:

means confining said mass for vertical movement toward and away from said guide means; and

wherein said mass overlies said guide means and is of a magnitude to permit displacement by a document passing therebeneath and there'after to stop said document prior to passage beyond said brake.

7. The document handling device of claim 4 wherein said mass is of a magnitude to arrest the document travel- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,525,880 2/1925 Mueller 19332 X 3,158,245 11/1964 Budjinski 19332 2,422,629 6/ 1947 Muller 1l221 EDWARD A. SROKA, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 271 

